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        Goo Goo Dolls >> Goo Goo Dolls >> Black Balloon - HIM?!
        
(Message started by: RogueUK on Mar 17^th, 2005, 5:01pm)

Title: Black Balloon - HIM?!
Post by RogueUK on Mar 17^th, 2005, 5:01pm

Ok so I knew Black Balloon was about someone who became a heroin addict...but for some reason I always thought the person in question was female ('Baby's black balloon makes HER fly..." "The spoon that was YOUR WOMB", "A thousand other boys could never reach you" all of these lyrics seem to me to suggest the song referred to a girl...) but I've just been watching the storytellers performance of the song (thank you Nicole ;) heh heh) and John distinctly says "This is about someone's heroin addiction and the havoc it wrecked (sp?) on everyone's life around HIM."

So...why the feminine pronoun and references to a womb? ??? Anyone know anything more about this?

I always wondered what happend to the person this song was about, too. Are they...ok...now? :-/ ???

And since I'm posting about this song, I thought you might all find this interesting...prior to having heard John's explanation of these lyrics, I always thought 'Black Balloon' was about an abortion... (baby, womb, all that stuff...somehow in my head that translated to abortion...)

I also at one time entertained the idea that 'Slide' could be about homosexuality...again this was before having seen/read anything where the boys explained the song..."Don't suppose I'll ever know what it means to be a man" I thought the song was about someone dealing with conflicts between their sexuality and their upbringing...and the references to 'May' were about this person covering up their sexuality by dating women to please the people around him (I thought it was a gay man as opposed to a lesbian woman...)

I just think it's interesting to look back on these things - knowing what the songs are about now, I can still see the reasons I thought what I did about them...I mean I wasn't just makiung stuff up, ya know? ;)

Title: Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
Post by JohnnyRaRa on Mar 17^th, 2005, 5:06pm

" sometimes we change the names to protect the innocent "

said John on StoryTellers...and the way he sais

" around HIM "

seems like he is trying to not make it so obvious....

I have heard that it was a song about Robbie's wife...but the song is definetly is about a female.

Alex
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Title: Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
Post by JohnnyRaRa on Mar 17^th, 2005, 5:06pm

" sometimes we change the names to protect the innocent "

said John on StoryTellers...and also

the way he sais

" around HIM "

seems like he is trying to not make it so obvious....

I have heard that it was a song about Robbie's wife...but the song is definetly is about a female.

Alex
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Title: Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
Post by SupaGoo on Mar 17^th, 2005, 5:14pm

I've also heard it was about Robby's ex-wife....I think John was just trying to protect the innocent as he says...

Title: Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
Post by RogueUK on Mar 17^th, 2005, 5:21pm

on 03/17/05 at 17:06:21, JohnnyRaRa wrote:

Yeah, I did notice he said it in a kinda strange way...
"around....HIM..." kinda pointed...so I was right after all...?

I never knew that about Robby's ex wife. Wow. Heavy stuff... :(

Title: Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
Post by crazy4goo on Mar 17^th, 2005, 7:59pm

Hey Rogue, to reply to your comments on Slide. That's a really interesting interpretation. I've always thought that song had some connotations of abortion. "The priest is on the phone, your father hit the wall, your ma disowned you..." Who knows. As far as Black Balloon, I once read an interview where Johnny said something to nature of " It's just about watching someone you love F*** up so bad" All I know is I can listen to these or any Goo songs a million times and they never get old!

Title: Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
Post by FizzyGoo on Mar 17^th, 2005, 8:06pm

i always saw the word "womb" in black balloon to just mean a safe, secluded place...it never really refers to an actual womb. Also, "ice from the spoon" is a drug reference. Haha don't worry, I'm not a druggie, I just read it somewhere.

Title: Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
Post by ShanGooFan on Mar 17^th, 2005, 8:13pm

It was my understanding that this song is about Robby's ex-wife and her drug addiction at that time. I thought this was confirmed in an article or interview somewhere...can't remember. I also know that in an article John commented that this person went on to get her life together and graduated from college. She became a teacher or psychologist ... something like that. I know someone around here can correct me if I'm wrong. I really need to start saving these old articles so I can reference them when I need to. But I know there are many, many Goo fans here who know the sources of these articles.

When John is referring to someone's heroin addiction and the havoc it wrecked (sp?) on everyone's life around HIM." I think he's referring to Robby himself and all the people surrounding them at that time and how his exes addiction impacted everyone.

Title: Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
Post by boynamedgoo on Mar 17^th, 2005, 9:28pm

http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Studio/9427/rs11993.html

Quote:

(Takac says that "Black Balloon" is their best song ever. Though they say they haven't discussed it - "We don't talk about that stuff, never, ever, ever" says Takac - they both know that the song, about a woman drifting away into hopelessness, is about Takac's ex-wife. "Fucked-up shit happens to good people sometimes," is all Takac will say.)

Great article...

Title: Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
Post by THE sLaVe GiRl on Mar 17^th, 2005, 9:35pm

on 03/17/05 at 19:59:29, crazy4goo wrote:

Hey Rogue, to reply to your comments on Slide. �That's a really interesting interpretation. �I've always thought that song had some connotations of abortion. �"The priest is on the phone, your father hit the wall, your ma disowned you..." �Who knows.

it IS about that, in a way...the song is about a teenage couple and the girl gets pregnant, and they are trying to decided what to do...john says that somewhere, maybe in storytellers? i could remember if i'd had more than 4 hours of sleep last night...

Title: Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
Post by ShanGooFan on Mar 17^th, 2005, 9:51pm

on 03/17/05 at 21:35:08, THE sLaVe GiRl wrote:

it IS about that, in a way...the song is about a teenage couple and the girl gets pregnant, and they are trying to decided what to do...john says that somewhere, maybe in storytellers? �i could remember if i'd had more than 4 hours of sleep last night...

You're right. That's why John said he is so proud of that song because he was able to pull off heavy lyrics and disguise them with peppy, happy music.

Title: Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
Post by RogueUK on Mar 17^th, 2005, 10:57pm

on 03/17/05 at 21:51:11, ShanGooFan wrote:

You're right. That's why John said he is so proud of that song because he was able to pull off heavy lyrics and disguise them with peppy, happy music.

Yeah, he said that people always said to him "Oh Slide is such a happy song" and he's like..."Um, no..." lol.

I always knew Slide was a dark kind of song...like I said in the original post, I had initially thought it was about homsexuality...and someone who felt they had to hide their sexuality from the people close to them in order to conform to some kinf of ideal...but at any rate, I never thought it was a 'happy' song. But yes I guess the music is disarming in a way.

It's like that Robby quote...he said something like "For years we've been singing these songs that sound really happy, but actually the words are like 'my brains are falling outta my ears, would someone please pull me together'" (paraphrasing, I can't remember it word for word)

Title: Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
Post by RogueUK on Mar 17^th, 2005, 11:01pm

on 03/17/05 at 20:06:42, FizzyGoo wrote:

i always saw the word "womb" in black balloon to just mean a safe, secluded place...it never really refers to an actual womb.

AH! So it's like a place of comfort...as though someone is taking comfort in substance abuse, like using it as a place to hide? Wow, that makes so much more sense now! Thank you ;D

Title: Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
Post by blessed_by_goo on Mar 17^th, 2005, 11:18pm

on 03/17/05 at 22:57:49, RogueUK wrote:

Yeah, he said that people always said to him "Oh Slide is such a happy song" and he's like..."Um, no..." lol.

I know I've read several times that John usually writes his sheet music 1st and then adds the lyrics later.... this probably is where the misconception comes in. I mean we all know it's a trying thing to figure out what John's lyrics actually mean. But that goes without saying to any song. A song can take on several different meanings to several different people. But with John's music in general, it can take on 2 twists...1st being that you need a degree in psychology to figure out the lyrics
and 2nd ... the misconception of mood due to his writing sheet music 1st and adding lyrics later. Your taking two individual tasks and weaving them together so it's like a double vision. Anyone get where I'm going with this???

Title: Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
Post by juniper on Mar 18^th, 2005, 2:56am

on 03/17/05 at 20:06:42, FizzyGoo wrote:

Yes FizzyGoo, I was thinking about that in the same way. "and scatter like ice from the spoon, that was your womb" ...hmmm, ice from the spoon is to me the heroin and the womb a place to hide so....the heroin is a way to hide into a save "world" like a baby in a womb who is save in it from all of the bad in the world.

Title: Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
Post by crazy4goo on Mar 18^th, 2005, 7:53am

Let's face it, Johnny is a pure genius when it comes to writing, composing and performing. (not to take anything away from Robby and Mike, cause it takes all 3 to make it work)

While we're on the subject of disecting lyrics (this is fun)
does anyone know anything about Bullet Proof ? God how I love that song

Title: Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
Post by JohnnysValentine on Mar 24^th, 2005, 7:40am

I am curious about Bullet Proof, too, so if anyone knows please post it for us!

Lauren

Title: Re: Black Balloon - HIM?!
Post by johnnysgirl on Mar 24^th, 2005, 10:57am

Speaking of Storytellers...
Does anybody have a DVD copy or know where I could get one?